Today, we are so used to pocket-sized electronics that it’s hard to imagine technologies like the first computer — 1951’s UNIVAC 1, which used 5,000 vacuum tubes and weighed more than eight tons. Another such example is 1957’s RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, which was the first programmable electronic synthesizer and sequencer and filled an entire room floor to ceiling with rackmount components. Funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant and installed at Columbia University, the system was designed by RCA researchers Herbert Belar and Harry F. Olson — the latter being well-known for his countless audio contributions, including RCA’s famed ribbon microphones. 

With 4-note polyphony, a primitive sequencer and a need for constant maintenance, the Mark II was hardly a game changer, but it paved the way for a revolution in computer music in the years to come. The system is still mostly intact and today resides at Columbia University’s Computer Music Center facility in New York City. 

Award Year
Created/Introduced Year
1957
Company
RCA
Image
Mark II Sound Synthesizer